Thursday, January 09, 2014

Manchester United are not used to losing matches so losing three in a row, the first time in 13 years that they have suffered this way, has not gone down well with the players. Added to which, there is a strong possibility that United will not qualify for the Champion’s League next year. The club have qualified for this prestigious European trophy every season since 1995-96. Although there are no signs of a mutiny amongst the team, there are a couple of key players who may not renew their contracts at the end of the season.

Moyes remarks in the press about “playing referees as well as the opposition” have not gone down well with the Football Association and his wholesale change of coaching staff is now being cited as a bad move by many.

Of course Moyes style is very different to his predecessor, so there was bound to be a period of settling in. The question is, how long will he be given to return to winning ways? Other clubs would be seriously considering sacking the manager at this stage but that is not United’s style and in any case it would not make a lot of sense half way through the season.

My son-in-law, who is a devoted United supporter, reckons they will give Moyes two years, we shall see. When I went to the pub with Dave to watch United play last week, the City game was being shown in one of the other bars. At the end of the match, the loyal United fans sang “We are the champions” followed by shouts of “20” just to remind the City fans of who are still holders of that cup and how many times they have won it. I very much doubt they will be singing that next year.